The First: Floods
by Kashito91
Summary: As catastrophe sweeps through Australia, the Mice and Charley watch on helplessly and in awe...


**Everyone knows this: I DON'T OWN THE MICE! If I did, there'd be a lot more M rated images of them on the internet.**

The three mice stared in shock and awe. They couldn't believe it. It was everywhere. What they were seeing was probably the most devastating natural disaster they'd seen in their lives. A place called Australia was undergoing the worst floods they'd seen in over a century, and according to the news; it was going to get worse.

It had began simply enough; the three mice were bored out of their fur and decided to crash at Charley's for a while. Then Vinnie decided to see if anything was on. When the white furred hurricane skipped the channel, Charley urged him back to it with a stare that would melt steel.

The newscast was an import through a WGN affiliated channel in Australia; which used local terminology which confused all three mice beyond belief. Fortunately, Google Earth was on hand to help them out, and within minutes, the mice knew where they were talking about. Also referenced multiple times through out the broadcast were a series of floods back in 1974. During the ad-breaks, Charley mused that she remembered hearing about them from a friend of her father's who was staying in Brisbane at the time of the disaster.

The mice were in shock. They'd heard of floods, but never seen them. The floods that apparently devastated Mississippi in 1993 had happened before they'd crash landed in Chicago and they hadn't ventured down to see anything happen. They'd heard snatches of the recovery efforts through people, but no-one had been willing to speak further of them.

Thinking back, the mice were now sure they'd seen reports of various floods over the years they'd been on earth, but they'd always skipped over them. Now that one was unfolding right before them; they got a very nasty shock. All three mice were silent; completely consumed by the sheer power the raging waters had upon the cities and towns that it had swept through. The carnage had been best summed up by Queensland Premier Anna Bligh as _"looking like a war zone"._

Suddenly, the mice got word that Limburger was up to his usual tricks again. As they rushed off, Charley remained behind; glued to the TV at the sight of what was going on. As she watch, she saw the Premier of Queensland come in with an update for the city. The death toll had remained the same, but fortunately, the number of people missing had declined slightly. During the update, Premier Bligh gave a speech that, even though she was nearly 20 thousand miles away, shook Charley to her core.

"_As we weep for what we have lost, and as we grieve for family and friends and we confront the challenge that is before us, I want us to remember who we are._" Cameras flashed all around the Premier as she fought to control her emotions. For some odd reason, Charley was thinking of Carbine. She thought Anna Bligh and her would get along well. They both wanted to help, and they knew the best way to do it; even in the face of certain disaster.

"_We are Queenslanders. We're the people that they breed tough, north of the border. We're the ones that they knock down, and we get up again. Together we can pull through this and that's what I'm determined to do. With your help, we can achieve it." _In her Chicago living room, Charley had been blown away. Just the raw emotion and power that was in that woman's voice had sent shivers down her spine. Her mice came back; but she didn't respond to what they said. In the minutes before, the station had decided to keep with the feed as long as possible, except for the ad-breaks that the local station had substituted themselves.

Her mice offered her a hotdog and a rootbeer; but she declined, saying she'd lost her appetite. The mice rejoined her, their eyes glued to the TV as they watched more and more water pour into places like Brisbane, Ipswich and so many other small towns they couldn't name if they tried. The news that made them all buckle slightly was that the Wivenhoe Dam; which was the damn built to counteract this kind of disaster, was nearing 200 percent capacity and that they had no choice then to open all five spillways. There were also rumours that the damn wall itself was possibly going to give way, but the odds of this were very low.

As the mice and their girl continued to watch into the night, and the next morning that followed; they all thought nearly the same thing. Whether the waters left slow or fast; whether people managed to get their lives back or not, and whether places could be rebuilt or not, the floods of 2011 would be in their minds for decades to come.

_The border mentioned by Premier Bligh is the border between Queensland and New South Wales._


End file.
